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Background: Hepatitis B virus and Hepatitis C virus are common causes of acute and chronic liver disease. Objective: To determine the prevalence of Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C virus infection. Patients and Methods: This study was carried out on (8679) patients selected from Al-Karama hospital in Baghdad from January 2001 to December 2002. The patients were divided into two groups: outpatient and inpatient. They were screened for Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBs Ag) and anti Hepatitis C (Anti HCV) by Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). The patient's ages ranged (0-70) years amongst male and female. Results: The frequency of HBs Ag 73 (9.12%) and anti-HCV 727 (90.87%), the result were indicative of much higher probable prevalence of HCV amongst population than hepatitis B. Positive cases amongst male (63.6%) and female (36.37%), male being more affected than female. The highest prevalence of Hepatitis B was detected in the Health care workers followed by the dialysis group and the highest prevalence rat of Hepatitis C was detected in the Health care workers followed by Renal transplant group.

Conclusion: The prevalence of HBs Ag and anti-HCV in patients is very high. It has been recommended that properly screened blood, using a reliable method like ELISA.